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I really enjoy training older people. Today’s seniors are full of life, many still work or own businesses, and they are passionate about healthy living. That’s why I created a personal training and lifestyle program for people over 65 to help them slow down their aging process. When people ask me if it’s too late for them to start working out in their 60’s, I say, you are never too old to attain positive results from exercise. It is true that we can’t stop the clock from ticking but recent … Continue reading →

Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but it got me thinking about heart health. Specifically, what can we do on a daily basis to improve our cardiovascular health and well-being. The American Heart Association, Mayo Clinic, National Institute of Health and pretty much every other medically oriented organization all have guidelines for heart-healthy eating and exercise. There are plenty of fitness trackers and calorie counters available on the market today to track steps, food intake and activity levels. On-line resources abound in every aspect of heart health. Heart Health Essentials … Continue reading →

I know a lot of you guys don’t know this about me, but I did Karate for over 10 years. A big part of traditional martial arts practice includes meditation. Meditation has a lot of benefits chief of which are the ability to clear your mind, tune out distractions and focus on the present. Meditation has been in the news a lot lately and I wanted to write about it, mainly because I know firsthand how it helps not only with calming your mind but keeping your body lean and … Continue reading →

10 Reasons Weightlifting is Good for Your Mental Health Everyone wants to have a lean and beautiful body and that’s what most clients ask me for when they sign up for training with me. What they don’t realize is that weight lifting not only changes their body, it changes the brain. Several studies have looked into lifting weights for brain health and one Canadian study found that lifting weights just twice a week helps to maintain brain health and possibly prevent diseases of the brain such as Alzheimer’s. Another study, … Continue reading →

If you follow my blog….and I know you do (here you are), you probably started ramping up your workouts and fine tuning your nutrition to get your beach body ready for summer back in January. You’re probably saying to yourself “Well, summer’s over, the kids are back in school and I need some ‘Me Time.’” I definitely agree. How about this year, you make that ‘Me Time’ your workout time? You were finally satisfied with your fitness levels, body shape and all of the benefits of eating right and exercising. … Continue reading →

Forget everything you thought you knew about diet and exercise in order to achieve that lean, ripped body. I have a secret to scoring the six-pack abs, killer arms and buns of steel you so want. I know, you love looking at the lean and ripped bodies of athletes and fitness models in magazines and it looks like if you just exercise harder and skip a meal or two, you would look the same. Well, let me tell you. If it was that easy, we’d all have the perfect body. … Continue reading →

Metabolism You hear it all the time, but what is metabolism? Technically, it’s the chemical processes which occur within a living organism in order to sustain life. But what does that mean to you? Well, if you take it one step further, it’s what makes your cells grow, it helps you produce energy and it also helps you eliminate waste and toxins from your body. It’s vital to your health and helps you maintain a healthy weight. But you can’t actually see it or touch it. However, your actions certainly … Continue reading →

2016 is coming up, which means it is time to sit down and write out your goals for the coming year. The most common New Years resolutions are to lose weight, reduce stress, increase exercise, or eat healthier. These are great goals! Unfortunately, the problem is that people tend to forget about them after the first week of the New Year. This is the year to change. Do you want to be making the exact same resolutions on the last day of next year? Or would you rather create new … Continue reading →

Teen Fitness Seminar Did a seminar on teen fitness, nutrition and exercise for the kids here in East LA – thanks guys! Posted by Jason Kozma on Teen Fitness Seminar Thursday, October 8, 2015 How Stretching Improves Your Workout Results The sign of a good workout is NOT sore muscles. Your body should work hard to ensure a good, fat-burning, muscle-building session, however, sore muscles are a sign of an improper warm-up or a buildup of lactic acid. Both of which can be helped by incorporating a solid stretching routine to … Continue reading →

Your Brain and Weight Training Tests showed that seniors who trained with free weights, dumbbells and weight machines just once or twice a week improved their cognitive ability by almost 13 percent after working out for a year. What’s interesting is that a similar group of women who did toning and balance exercises actually regressed in their decision-making abilities and focus. Lifting weights, it turns out, slows older women’s cognitive decline. The study was published in “Archives of Internal Medicine.” Tests showed that seniors who trained with free weights, dumbbells … Continue reading →

How to make it through Thanksgiving without gaining weight …and not feeling guilty Who doesn’t love Thanksgiving? We all eagerly await to gather around the dinner table with family and friends. But we all knows what happens at that dinner table: we end up eating so much, we end up talking about it for weeks…and then trying to lose the weight for months! Do you know that most Americans will consume more than 4,500 calories and close to 200 fat grams (that’s 1800 calories just from fat!) on Thanksgiving day … Continue reading →

It’s sweater weather and this time of the year, after working out all summer to stay in shape for bikini season, you start slacking off. Cooler temperatures start off the season of eating. You tell yourself that missing gym is okay because you worked out so hard during the summer months. And when it comes to your diet? Let’s just say it’s easier to be naughty than nice. Also, everyone is back from vacations and your friends are getting together more often. Some of your co-workers are baking pies, cookies … Continue reading →

Having a variety of food on your dinner plate does not always mean you’re getting a healthier dinner. There are many factors that determine whether or not a dinner is considered healthy, such as the amount of calories and the quality of the food itself. For those of you looking to lose weight or to be healthier in general, follow the 5 tips below so you can make a truly healthy dinner every night. 5 Healthier Dinner Tips Tip #1: Make sure you purchase high quality food. Get organic or … Continue reading →

Kristina looks 10 years younger in her after photo (minus 12 pounds too)! I always chuckle when I hear how advertisements claim that creams and beauty products reverse aging. Because the only thing that can truly turn the clock back is your diet and your workout routine. Aging is not about a couple wrinkles on your forehead, it’s about loss of muscle and deficit in muscular strength, including diminishing ability to perform daily activities. Typically, these changes begin at around age 40 and progressively worsen with aging. How Exercise Slows … Continue reading →

For some people, looking and feeling great is motivation enough to work out and eat a healthy, balanced diet. For others, it takes a lot more than that. Some people need a lot of motivation just to get off the couch. Others need motivation to carve out time in the day to get to the gym or take a run. Others may have physical limitations or health issues that may prevent them from getting the exercise they need. Back when I decided to transform my body to become a competitive … Continue reading →

Breaking a world record is impressive, but when a bodybuilder takes it upon himself to shatter a record from myth it’s something that gets people’s collective attention. That’s why Game of Thrones Actor Hafthor Bjornsson, an Icelandic power lifter who competes under the name of Thor, drew so much attention when he accomplished a feat even the heroes from the sagas couldn’t manage. What Did He Do? According to legend there was a great Viking hero who had the mast of a longship laid across his shoulders. In the myth … Continue reading →

It surprises me how many of my clients still don’t take enough Vitamin D3. It’s been in the news a few years ago, mostly because doctors realized how many people had Vitamin D3 deficiency. But like everything else, it was hot for a minute and then everyone went about their merry way and forgot to take their vites. So why is Vitamin D3 so good for you? Well, first of all you need to know that if you don’t have enough D in your body, you are more likely to … Continue reading →

It’s no secret that high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet is bad for your body. Monitoring your calories and the foods you eat is a must if you are watching your figure. But how about alcohol? Do alcohol calories count more? Can drinking hurt our efforts to shed a few pounds? Well, actually, new research shows that even small amounts on alcohol may widen your waistline and contribute to more weight gain that you imagined. A mere 3 ounces of alcohol can reduce fat-burning by about a third. But how could this be, … Continue reading →